1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens apparatus and an image pickup system including the lens apparatus, and particularly, to an operation of a plurality of image pickup systems such as in stereography.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a known stereography system in which a plurality of image pickup systems where each of the plurality of image pickup systems can be used singularly are used to perform stereography. Meanwhile, in the stereography, just a slight displacement between left and right images may give the viewer not only a feeling of strangeness, but also a feeling of discomfort and fatigue. Therefore, in the stereography system, positions of corresponding optical elements that can be driven in the respective image pickup systems always need to be equalized between the plurality of image pickup systems. In a conventional system, the following technique is known as a method of always equalizing the positions of the corresponding optical elements that can be driven in the respective plurality of image pickup systems.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-127400 discloses a drive apparatus in which one of two zoom lenses is set to a master side, the other is set to a slave side, and the lens on the slave side is driven in accordance with the movement of the lens on the master side.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-154073 discloses an image pickup system that can match the settings of a plurality of image pickup apparatuses. According to the proposal, settings are changed in synchronization with the timing of changing the setting by another image pickup apparatus. Therefore, the settings of the image pickup apparatuses can be appropriately changed during the operation of the plurality of image pickup apparatuses.
However, the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-127400 does not particularly describe controls other than the control for causing the lens on the slave side to follow the lens on the master side, and particularly, does not describe a case in which there is a control from an automatic drive function included in the image pickup system. Furthermore, the lens on the slave side cannot follow due to functions set in the image pickup system on the slave side, and this is not taken into account.
In fact, if a function of limiting the drive range or the maximum speed is enabled in the image pickup system on the slave side, the lens on the slave side cannot completely follow the movement of the lens on the master side.
If setting information related to the functions of the image pickup systems is synchronized in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-154073, the image pickup system on the master side and the image pickup system on the slave side have the same settings. More specifically, separate settings are necessary for optimal settings of the image pickup systems.